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UNIVERSITY OF 
ILLINOIS LIBRARY 
AT URBANA-CHAMPAICN 
200KSTACKS 


ot Nel 


4 YOR ; 


ie | a, 


Nila t 


KOs 
ons Srint 


DESCRIPTIVE 
CATALOGUE 
with Reproductions of Life-size Bust Portraits of 
Famous Indian Chiefs 
Great Medicine Men 
and Notable Indian 


ey Warriors = 
. Renowned Explorers, Scouts & Guides 


RICKER LIBRARY 
“MAY 1 6.1961 


DEPT, ARCHITECTURE 


Exhibited im the 
Minnesota Pioneers’ Portrait Galleries 
State Fair Gesunde 
dea n authentie Biogranhis ais ptese sy arg eam 


a brief H of the Ind 
whi ch thes dtesstimny, 


LIBRARY 


OF THE 
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS 
,  , 8 SEPI9I4 
Descriptive atalogue 


with 
Reproductions of Life-size Bust Portraits 


of 


Famous Indian Chiefs, Great Medias 
Men, Notable Indian Warriors 
and Renowned Explorers, 


Scouts and Guides 


With an authentic Biographical Sketch of each Subject and a brief 
History of the Indian Tribes which they represent. 


Exhibited in the 


Minnesota Pioneers Portrait Galleries 
State Fair Grounds 


THE thirty life-size bust portraits herein 

described, were painted by the greatest 

of all Indian portrait painters, Mr. H. 
H. CRoss, and are loaned to the State Fair 
Management by THOMAS B. WALKER, 
Muinneapolis, Minn. 


painter, H. H. Cross, is now a resi- 
dent of Avalon, Santa Catalina 
Island, California. Mr. Cross is 
‘~~ about seventy years of age and be- 
4 gan painting animals in 1854, when 
but fifteen years old. Only a few years later he 
began to paint Indian portraits from life. These 
he retained for his own gratification it being his 
hobby or desire from the beginning of his art career 
to produce a splendid collection cf those most inter- 
esting and historic portraits. He studied his art in 
both Europe and America and has produced suc- 
cessful and meritorious pictures for many notable 
people, including Leland Stanford, Cornelius Van- 
derbilt, J. B. Hogen, Marcus Daly, Frank Work, 
Robert Bonner, H. M. Flagler, The Prince of Wales 
(now King Edward), “Buffalo Bill,’ The Duke of 
Chester, General Grant (picture sent by him to the 
Sultan of Turkey, Abdul Hamid 2d), Emperor of 
Japan, James J. Hill, and others. He painted the 
portrait of the King of the Hawaiian Islands and of 
President Diaz of Mexico. Aside from George 
Catlin, who during the years 1832 to 1838 lived 
among the Indians and painted 470 full length 
portraits, all of which now hang in the National 
Museum at Washington, Mr. Cross stands pre- 
eminent in Indian portraiture. And while he has 


3] 


not preduced so profusely, his work in this line has 
never been surpassed, as he is a realist as well as an 
artist. Farny, Lundgren, Couse and Deming have 
been admitted to membership in several notable 
tribes of American Indians, but no one of them pro- 
duced many portraits. Mr. Cross kept the wolf 
from the door and succeeded in laying by a snug 
fortune by painting pictures of cattle and horses 
by appointment for such persons as those named 
above. His last commission only recently com- 
pleted was for the late “Lucky Ealdwin,” amounting 
to $35,000. He therefore spent much time with 
Generals Reno, Crook and Miles among the Indians 
of the West and South. He was a frontiersman in 
the early days and studied the character of the 
various tribes, and especially that of the Chiefs and 
their principal medicine men and warriors. Thus | 
we see in his Indian portraits not only the brilliant 
colors and the great war bonnets, but the tribal 
features, and peculiar characteristics of every indi- 
vidual chief, medicine man or warrior depicted true 
to life and set in proper and appropriate environ- 
ments. Mr. Cross was well and personally ac- 
quainted with all the great scouts, and was probably 
more richly endowed with proper talent and tem- 
perament to paint the portraits of these noted 
frontiersmen than any person who ever knew 
them, as the portraits themselves amply prove. A\I- 
though his work is bold and his colors brilliant, as 
is necessary in Indian portraiture, yet there is not a 
discordant note in his composition, his color or his 
design. Mr. Cross painted the picture of Mr. A. 
Allen, first president of the State Fair Association, 
which hangs in the Minnesota Pioneers’ Portrait 
Gallery on the state fair grounds. 


[4 


The following letter from “Buffalo Bill’ makes 
plain his appreciation of Mr. Cross’ splendid work 
done for him. The letter is interesting in that the 
great scout’s compliments are given in true western 
style without frills or embellishments, but with a 
frank earnestness that carries conviction. 


BUFFALO BILL’S WILD WEST 


New York City, April 20, 1901. 


My dear old and tried friend Cross: 


It is my great pleasure to acknowledge the receipt of 
the two paintings of Indian and buffalo you have sent 
me. The Indian portrait of John Grass. I have seen 
several pictures which have been painted from him, but 
none of them compare with this cne you have just fin- 
ished, both in color and likeness. It looks as though he 
was going to say to me “Haw-Coola-Alla, Bill.” You 
have represented in the likeness that peculiar expression 
he used to have in his eyes when he was thinking of 
some deviltry to play on someone he liked; and the buf- 
falo picture is so true to life, it puts me back forty years. 
I almost want to take up my Winchester, just to see 
how the old thing would work and stir them up a little, 
I begin to think you are part Indian and part buffalo. 
You put so much life in everything you do. Your early 
experience in the western life affords you a greater knowl- 
edge and opportunity to put the Indian and buffalo on 
canvas as no other artist can do at the present day, for 
your sketches and pictures were all made from life when 
they were there. Your Indians are not of the tobacco 
tribe, such as we see trying to tempt one with a wooden 
cigar, and the buffalo you paint are not of the Central 
Park breed. They all have that wild look about them, full 
of action and life. You have executed these pictures to 
suit me and I feel very proud of them and I know the Prince 
of Wales will appreciate them as much, if not more, than 
I do myself when he receives them. I shall send them to 
him this week.. He had some English painter paint some 
buffalo from the animals we had in the show, also some 
of our Indians we had with us there, but he did not like 
them. He took a great fancy to John Grass and was 
anxious to get a good picture from him. He was taken 
sick and I sent him to the agency in Dakota. The prince 
was very nice to me and these pictures will just hit 
the spot with him. I have heen looking at your picture 
“Perils of the Chase,” as it was my good luck to witness 


5] 


its completion under your hand, and I do not hesitate to 
tell you I think it is the greatest picture of the wild life 
of the plains I have ever seen. I should have owned that 
myself, as it represents the situation as but few of us knew 
them. You should have sent it to England, as it would 
have given you a great prestige there; as an artist, you 
could make dollars there to dimes in America. Well, old 
Pard, how I do wish we could be placed back once more 
in the sagebrush, rock and alkali, before the railroad and 
telegraph. There is some of it I know you, as well as my- 
self, would like to live over again, and some of it, well! 
we draw the line at that. 

I will make a proposition to you: We go to Europe 
with the Wild West show for the season of 1903-4. Why 
can you not go over with us and make your studio and 
headquarters with the show, we make from two days to 
six days stands; put on your buckskins once more and 
paint, you will be before the people all the time and you 
will meet the best of them. It will not cost you anything 
for transportation or grub. Live right with me on the 
grounds, I will see that you have good quarters in our 
cars. I would like to have you with me, as you and I are 
about the only ones left out of all the old boys now. I 
want you to join my party on our annual hunt in the Big 
Home country. General Miles has made up his mind to 
go along. I will say goodbye for now, and good luck to 
you and yours. Your friend, 


Wat CODY: 
(“Buffalo Bill.”) 


[6 


Reproductions of Paintings 
and Biographical Sketches 


LITTLE CROW. 


LITTLE CROW 


(Ta-oyati-doota) 


Chief of the Sioux Village, known as “Little Crow’s Vil- 
lage,” or Kaposia. The chief in 1837 was Wande-tanka 
(Big Eagle), whose father’s name was Chatan-wakoowa- 
mani (who walks pursuing a hawk), from which the title 
“Little Crow” seems to have been taken. The dynasty 
came to an end in Little Crow, who led the outbreak in 
Minnesota in 1862. 

Little Crow was a notable Indian, not only among his 
people, but among the white people long before the Indian 
outbreak of Monday, Aug. 18, 1862. Although he claimed 
to have been driven into making war by the young men of 
his tribe and especially by the murders committed by four 
young Indians of Shakopee’s band, yet it is well known 
that he had planned that inasmuch as all ablebodied men 
had gone to the war of the Rebellion, that this was the 
time to wreak vengeance on the helpless whites remaining 
in the sparsely settled country. But he wished to delay 
the attack until the Indians had been paid their allot- 
ments by the government. So the murderous band from 
Shakopee’s tribe only precipitated matters earlier than 
Little Crow had planned. 

On July 3, 1863, while on a horse stealing expedition 
with seventeen other Indians, Little Crow was killed by 
a Mr. Lampson, residing near Hutchinson, Minn. His 
body was taken into Hutchinson and when positively 
identified was literally torn to pieces by the infuriated 
settlers, many of whom had lost friends and relations in 
the massacres instigated by this Indian. The skull and a 
part of the skeleton are now in the rooms of the State 
Historical Society at St. Paul. 


9] 


LITTLE SHAKOPEE 


LITTLE SHAKOPEE 


(Little Six) 


Chief of the Dakotahs or Sioux. He was the son of old 
Chief Shakopee, who with Wabasha, Red Wing, Black 
Dog, Lake Calhoun and Good Road ceded all the lands 
of the Dakotahs east of the Mississippi river to the United 
States June 15, 1838. Old Shakopee died at the Red Wood 
Agency of typhoid fever, refusing medical aid, depending 
upon the antics of the medicine man. The name of the 
younger Shakopee was Ea-to-ka (Another Language). 
But when he became chief he was known as Little Shako- 
pee. 

He was very unfriendly to the whites. He took part in 
the Indian Massacre in 1862-3, murdering women and 
children, but was never seen in a battle. 

He was captured in Manitoba and hanged in 1864. 
Medicine Bottle, the brother of Chief Big Eagle, was 
hanged with him. 

Chief Shakopee’s camp was six miles above Red Wood 
Agency, on the Minnesota river. Four young Indians 
from Shakopee’s band began the massacre by killing sev- 
eral white people near Acton in Meeker county. Those 
Indians were named Sungigidan (Brown Wing), Ka-on- 
de-i-ye-ye-dan (Breaking Up), Nagi-wi-cak-te (Killing 
Ghost), and Pa-zo-i-yo-pa (Runs against something when 
crawling),. 

These young men dared each other to go to the house 
of Robinson Jones and kill him and his family simply to 
prove to each other who was brave. They did kill him 
and two other men and two women. They then returned 
to Shakopee’s camp and told him what they had done. 
Shakopee at once took the young men to Little Crow’s 
house, two miles above the Agency. He sat up in bed 
and heard their story and said “war is now declared,” etc. 
So he and Shakopee arranged to attack the Indian Agency 
at Red Wood the next morning, which they did, killing 
nearly every white person residing there, and then in 
marauding bands spread out among the frontier settle- 
ments killing men, women and children, burning their 
homes and appropriating their goods. 


Another narrator says there was six of the Indians from 
Shakopee’s camp called on Robinson Jones, who kept the 
public house at Acton, demanding food. Jones refused, 
but fearing the Indians, he went to his neighbors, Howard 
Baker, whence his wife had already gone. The Indians 
followed and killed all but Mrs. Baker and the children. 


11] 


CUT NOSE. 


CUT NOSE 


Sioux brave who took an active part in the Sioux upris- 
ing and massacre in Minnesota, 1862. When painted for 
war he was a most hideous looking monster. He had 
sworn to kill every white man, woman or child that he 
was able to kill. He would ride up and down by struggling 
captives as the squaws forced them along, and try with 
all sorts of hideous antics to scare women and children. 

Immediately following the sacking of the Red Wood 
Agency, a band of Indians with this fiend at their head 
tomahawked twenty-five helpless people within an area of 
as many rods, Cut Nose himself dispatching eleven who 
had taken refuge in a wagon. 

He was among the thirty-eight Indians that were 
hanged at Mankato, Dec. 26, 1862. Three hundred and 
three had been sentenced to death, but Abraham Lincoln 
commuted the sentence of two hundred and sixty-five to 
imprisonment. 

He was the father of “Yellow Hand,” the chief killed 
in a duel with Buffalo Bill at Hot Creek, North Dakota, 
July 17, 1876. 

The Siouan, or Sioux, seem to have derived their name 
from an Algonquin word, signifying “snake like ones.” 
They call themselves Dakota, or Lakota. The tribe con- 
sists of the following bands or divisions: Santee, Sisse- 
ton, Wahpeton, Yankton, Yanktonnai and Teton. The 
Tetons, whose name signifies “dwellers on the prairies,” 
are again subdivided into Brule, Sans Aves, Blackfeet, 
Winneconjou, Doonopaw, Ogalalla and Unkapapa. The 
two last named subdivisions of the Teton Sioux were the 
Sioux of Minnesota and North Dakota. The Assiniboines, 
of British North America, are also a branch of the Siouan. 
All branches of the Sioux have been very warlike, resent- 
ing with vicious obstinacy the aggression of the whites. 
The Siouan tribes of the east, which were not crushed out 
in conflict with the early settlers, retreated to the north- 
west, at each succeeding stand waging a fierce warfare be- 
fore moving further. The last of these being the Custer 
Massacre, June 25, 1876, and the several conflicts immedi- 
ately following. 


13] 


MEDICINE BOTTLE. 


MEDICINE BOTTLE 


Chief of the Sioux, brother of Chief “Big Eagle” and 
son of Chief “Gray Iron,” both deceased. At the break- 
ing up of the Indian massacre in Minnesota in the autumn 
of 1862, several hundred of the warring Sioux escaped 
into Dakota. Among these were at least six chiefs, the 
most prominent being “Little Shakopee,” “Little Leaf,” 
and “Medicine Bottle.” An Expedition under Major Hatch 
was sent to Pembina during the winter of 1863-4. The 
Indians, however, had taken refuge within British terri- 
tory. Nevertheless, in December, 1863, several Indians 
were killed along the border and a few days later some 
two hundred surrendered to Major Hatch and others kept 
coming until about four hundred had surrendered. The 
Chiefs would not surrender, however, for fear of the 
punishment which they so richly deserved. But in January, 
1864, Shakopee and Medicine Bottle were captured and 
delivered at Pembina. In May they were sent to Fort 
Snelling where they were tried and found guilty of mur- 
dering many white settlers and sentenced to death by 
hanging, which order was duly executed at Fort Snelling 
in October, 1865. All the other Indians had been taken 
to Fort Snelling in February, owing to a lack of provisions 
at Pembina. This service was performed by Major Joseph 
R. Brown, Chief of Scouts, and about sixty friendly In- 
dians who had operated with him during the campaign. 


15] 


SITTING BULL. 


SITTING BULL 


( Tatonka-I- Yotanka) 


He was an Uncapapa Sioux, born on the Missouri river 
near the mouth of Grand river, Dakota, in 1831. In early 
life he was noted as a warrior and hunter and later gained 
prestige as a medicine man and counsellor. Although 
without hereditary claim to chieftainship, yet he gained 
both influence and followers; while his bitter hostility to 
the whites earned him great notoriety, not only among 
the Indians, but all through the United States. This 
brought him great commendation from the great chiefs 
of the Sioux or Dakotahs, and they made him Honorary 
High Chief. 

Sitting Bull was the consulting head of over five 
thousand warriors. After the battle of the Little Big 
Horn (June 25, 1876), in which General Custer and his 
whole command were massacred, Sitting Bull broke camp, 
and he with upwards of a thousand braves continued on 
their journey to Canada, whence they were journeying 
when Custer made his attack. Here they remained until 
1881, when he and one hundred and sixty followers sur- 
rendered to Lieut. Col. Brotherton, at Fort Buford. Bull 
remained here until 1883, when he was released and sent 
to Standing Rock Agency. He slipped away, however, and 
took part in the ghost dances at Pine Ridge Agency. 
When the government undertook to force the Indians back 
to their agencies, there ensued the “Battle of Pine Ridge.” 
Sitting Bull, with his son and three cther chiefs, departed 
for the Bad Lands. Here the Indian police overtook them 
and killed Sitting Bull, his son Black Bird and the three 
other chiefs near Sitting Bull’s tent. He had four wives 
and seven children. 

There has been some bitter criticism of the “Battle of 
Pine Ridge” and the killing of Sitting Bull. Possibly 
some of this is deserved, yet it cannot be doubted but that 
Sitting Bull was ever a disturbing element among his peo- 
ple and that the elevation of such a man as Black Heart 
would have brought greater honors and more lasting peace 
to this unfortunate nation. 


17] 


RED TOMAHAWK. 


RED TOMAHAWK 


Sioux chief and warrior. He was captain of the Indian 
police who were sent to capture Sitting Bull and his band, 
who after the Custer massacre was making his way north 
into British American territory. When the Indian police, 
under Red Tomahawk, entered Sitting Bull’s tent de- 
manding his surrender, the old chief went outside and 
mounted his horse, one of the Indian police named Bull 
Head standing on one side of him and another police on 
the other, Red Tomahawk immediately behind him in 
order that the old man should not get away. Sitting Bull 
called upon his warriors to kill the Indians surrounding 
him and appealed to his people not to let the Indian police 
take him. One of Bull’s Indians mortally wounded Bull 
Head, who immediately shot Sitting Bull, while the police 
on the opposite side of Sitting Bull shot the Indian who 
had wounded Bull Head, and it is asserted that all three 
of them fell at once. 

After this there were many shots exchanged, several 
Indians being killed on each side. 

There has been some bitter criticism of Red Tomahawk 
and his Indian police and even of the government’s action 
in the killing of Sitting Bull. But this chief was ever a 
disturbing element, restive on the reservation and ever 
endeavoring to induce not only his own people, but mem- 
bers of other tribes, to make trouble for the whites. 

The picture is pronounced a splendid likeness and is 
done in Mr. Cross’ usual pleasing manner. 


19] 


“YELLOW HAND.” 


“YELLOW HAND” 
(Nape-Zi) 
Chief of the Ogallala Sioux, Red Cloud Band. 


(Nape-Zi) Chief of the Ogallala Sioux, Red Cloud Band. 
Painted from life by H. H. Cross, 1873. This famous 
Indian was killed in a duel at Hot Creek about 100 miles 
north and a little west of Fort Robinson, Dakota, July 
17th, 1876, by Col. Wm. F. Cody, “Buffalo Bill,” who was 
the scout for Gen. Eugene A. Carr, of the U. S. army and 
his command against the Sioux Indians. The troops were 
camped in the valley, while the Indians had taken up a 
safe retreat by falling back into the foot-hills. One day 
Chief Yellow Hand came out mounted on the back of a 
yellow or clay bank pony, well out of rifle range on the 
top of a high butte. He signalled a bold challenge for 
the leader of the command to fight a duel to settle their 
difficulty for the country. As the Indians were fighting 
for that particular locality at that time and as an enlisted 
man could not accept the challenge to go out and fight, 
“Buffalo Bill” took it upon himself to answer the chal- 
lenge, he being a scout and not enrolled could accept such 
a proposition. Cody was very much wrought up, having 
only heard of the fate of Gen. Custer and his brave men 
the day before. All arrangements made, Yellow Hand 
won the choice of weapons, which was rifles. The battle 
was to be fought on horseback, the field being laid out 
in a triangular shape, the troops on one corner and the 
Indians on the other, about one mile apart. At the signal 
to start they both left at top speed, headed for the lower 
end of the triangle, shooting at each other going away 
from the troops and Indians. Cody began to play with 
Yellow Hand by shooting a feather now and then out of 
Yellow Hand’s war bonnet. This so confused Yellow 
Hand that he shot all his ammunition away without effect, 
and as they came nearer to each other Bill shot Yellow 
Hand’s horse from under him and as the horse did not 
fall, Cody charged his horse against Nape-Zi and his 
horse, knocking them both down. Once on the ground 
the Indian threw his gun away and took to his knife. 
Cody dismounted, abandoning his horse and gun, taking 
his bowie knife and dispatched Yellow Hand, it being one 
cf the most thrilling hand to hand combats ever fought 
in the history of the west. The Indians began firing at 
the soldiers and it became a running fight for thirty-five 
miles, all the way into the Red Cloud Agency. The next 
day the Squaw of Yellow Hand went over into the sol- 
diers’ quarters, she having cut off the third finger of her 
right hand, this being a great sacrifice and custom of the 
Indian women as an act of mourning for the dead. When 
she saw Col. Cody, she threw herself at his feet, grasping 
him around his lower limbs, sending forth such a wail as 
none but a squaw can tongue as an exhibition of admira- 
tion for a brave man and a big chief. Yellow Hand was 
a son of the notorious “Cut Nose.” 


21] 


Uomeage BEA 


2 pareinn Shaw tase oon Hae 


< 


“BLACK HEART.” 


“BLACK HEART” 


Chief of the Ogallala Sioux. He possessed a very com- 
manding appearance and moved about with great dignity. 
He possessed a gentle, kindly disposition, genial and 
courteous. He had a kind word for all, whether Indian 
or white man, looking upon the bright side of everything, 
he studiously endeavored to avoid all difficulty. He was 
neither impulsive nor demonstrative. So whatever he did 
was done in a gentle but deliberate manner. At times, 
when his people felt that they had a grievance, he would 
endeavor in a learned argument to dissuade them from 
hasty action, but once he became convinced of a wilful 
wrong to his tribe, he would assume an immovable stand 
and insist that the injustice be satisfactorily settled or 
that his people be avenged. Black Heart had two wives 
and a small family of children to whom he was very much 
attached. As one of his wives belonged to the Cree na- 
tion in Northwest Territory, Canada, he often took his 
whole family on a long journey to visit her people. At 
one time, on their return journey, they ran short of provi- 
sions. He selected a secluded place for his camp where 
he left his family to be gone several days tiunting. Upon 
his return to his wigwam he found that some Chippewa 
outlaws had visited his home in his absence and so mal- 
treated his family that one wife died from her injuries; 
they also carried away nearly all his belongings, includ- 
ing two freak buffalo skins and one white and one silk 
buffalo robe. He then took his family to the home of the 
tribe in the states and went on a long hunt for the wretch- 
es who had despoiled his home. He finally found them 
and dispatched all four, taking their belongings with him 
back to his family. A great feast of white dog was given 
in his honor on his triumphant return, but Black Heart 
remained in his tepee where he continued mourning and 
fasting for thirty days. In many instances the home ties 
of the Indian are as sacred and dear as to the most re- 
fined and civilized of our own race. 


23] 


FLAT IRON. 


“FLAT IRON” 


(Che-kee-Ja- tuna) 


Grand old man of the Ogallala Sioux. He was chief and 
Medicine Man; was always in the lead of every Indian 
movement; a very genial old fellow, always asking ques- 
tions in order to acquaint himself with what was going on, 
but was very careful to impart no information himself. He 
lived to be over one hundred years old, but even at that 
advanced age could mount or alight from his horse with 
the agility of a young athlete. His opinions had much 
weight and influence with his people. In his declining 
years he possessed to a marked degree a trait common 
among most old Indians—that of forgiving everyone for 
actual or imagined wrongs, thus preparing himself for a 
life in the “happy hunting grounds.” One of his sayings 
was “the harder you fight me in time of war, the more I 
love you in time of peace.” 


Chie-kee-la-tuna had nine wives and seventy-five chil- 
dren. The number of children by each wife respectively 
being eleven, twelve, nine, twelve, six, ten, five, eight and 
two. He took great pride in each and all of his wives and 
children and the old chief was wont to say they had no 
time to quarrel, as it kept them busy making clothing for 
the children, and that if every Indian had raised as large 
families as he, they could have driven the white man from 
their country and restored the buffalo. He had in his 
possession a black war bonnet, which had been handed 
down for over three hundred years. The black war bon- 
net is now extremely scarce, as the Indians say “Wan- 
cantanka (Great Spirit) has called Black Bird home heap 
many moons ago,” Flat Iron also had in his possession 
an Egyptian stone bird and a scarab. These antiquities 
the old chief and his tribe held in great veneration, and it 
is a question for the historian and the antiquarian how 
those very ancient objects from far away Egypt came 
into the possession of this tribe of American Indians. 


25] 


RAIN IN THE FACE. 


RAIN IN THE FACE 


Chief of the Uncapapa Sioux, Standing Rock Agency. 


Rain in the Face, as a young man, was known among 
his people for his daring and bravery. He had a villain- 
ous temper when angered; he would never brook an in- 
sult from man or woman. His people never understood 
him; his movements were always very mysterious; at 
times he would disappear and’ remain away from his 
tribe for months at a time. He never forgave or forgot 
a wrong. He was one of Sitting Bull’s truest men, while, 
at the same time, he never liked Sitting Bull. He was 
once arrested on the order of General Custer by his 
brother, Tom Custer, in western Dakota, for murder. He 
was placed in a government prison, where he remained for 
several months, where he suffered great hardship, being 
half clad and without fire during the winter time when 
the snow blew through the cracks in drifts. All this was 
done to make him confess, but he finally made his escape, 
leaving threats to kill—“I will kill you all and cut your 
hearts out and eat them,” meaning Tom Custer and the 
whole Custer family. 

They were warned by friendly guides and Indians that 
Rain in the Face was the most formidable and dangerous 
man in the entire Sioux tribes and would surely do all in 
his power to carry out his threats of vengeance to the Cus- 
ters. They, however, were inclined to scoff at the In- 
dian’s power to fulfill his oath. After his escape he joined 
Sitting Bull and his braves. It is a curious fact that, al- 
though associated with Sitting Bull in many desperate 
battles, he never liked Sitting Bull. It was a year and a 
half after he made his escape that General Custer and 
some three hundred men of the Seventh Cavalry started 
on the hunt for Sitting Bull. Rain in the Face had thrown 
cut scouts to keep him thoroughly posted on Custer’s 
movements for more than a week before the opposing 
forces came in sight of one another. It was Rain in the 
Face who led the final charge against the knoll, where 
Custer and the survivors stood and gallantly defended 
themselves as best they could. It was General Custer, his 
sword shattered, his revolvers empty, the last member of 
the Custer family, at the mercy of Rain in the Face; the 
General’s brother having already been killed. There was 
silence for a moment and the Indians ceased to fire or 
advance, then came a puff of smoke, a single shot, and 
General Custer fell dead beside his troops, notwithstand- 
ing it was Sitting Bull’s order not to kill Custer, but to 
take him prisoner: Rain in the Face kept his word. Rain 
in the Face was shot through the knee in this battle and 
was crippled for the balance of his life. He died at Stand- 
ing Rock, Dakota, on September 12, 1905, thus closing a 
long life of one of the most dangerous and revengeful 
Indians that ever lived. 


27] 


CHIEF IRON TAIL. 


CHIEF IRON TAIL 


Ogallala Sioux 


Iron Tail is a grand specimen of Indian manhood and 
was much trusted by the government and army officers 
after he had been convinced that the Indian sun had set 
and that they had lost their prestige and their country. 
He was one of the leaders in the Sitting Bull and Custer 
Battle. He was also a great dancing master and taught 
all the different dances from a wedding chant and march 
to the weird and stoical sun dance, which was one of the 
most cruel of self-inflicted tortures known to man. It 
was indulged in to try out their courage and endurance as 
great braves. This practice has been stopped by the gov- 
ernment. He was not a believer in the ghost dance that 
brought about the Indian battle at Wounded Knee, 1891, 
after the Custer battle. Col. W. F. Cody, “Buffalo Bill,” 
applied to the Government Indian Department for about 
one hundred Indians and Iron Tail was one of the first 
chosen to join “Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show,” and has 
been with him for more than nineteen years. During this 
time he has visited all the large cities and towns in Amer- 
ica and Europe. When the Indians left their reservation 
to attend the Ghost Dance in North Dakota, he and other 
members of his tribe hurried home from Europe to pre- 
vent trouble for the Indians and did all he could to pre- 
vent the battle of Wounded Knee. 

“Buffalo Bill’ esteems him very highly and has put him 
as head chief of all his Indians. Iron Tail is uncommonly 
endowed for one of his nation, and his wisdom gives him 
power and influence. 


29] 


CHIEF RED HORN BULL. , 


CHIEF RED HORN BULL 


Ogallala Sioux 


This little Indian was a big man with his people. He 
was known for being a great scout and runner during the 
time of war. While on signal journeys to communicate 
the news to neighboring tribes, he always traveled 
under war paint and flying feathers. Flying or loose 
feathers are to indicate that the Indians are on the war 
path and that war has ben declared by them. So look 
out for trouble. Red Horn Bull was one who led a 
charge with his warriors against Reno’s machine guns. 
Reno was stationed some four miles above Custer’s men. 
He was shot through the lower jaw, going in one side of 
his face and passing out the other side and tearing away 
part of the lower jaw. Another shot entered the right 
breast, passing through the lung and out through the 
back under the shoulder blade. Another ball passed 
through the right thigh, breaking the bone. He remained 
in the swamp for twenty-four hours, hidden by the high 
grass and water. When he was rescued by the Indians 
after Reno had fallen back, he was taken on that long 
journey by Sitting Bull and his followers, some four hun- 
dred miles to Fort Walsh, or Wood Mountain, Northwest 
Territory, Canada, where he fully recovered through the 
aid of the Indian Medicine Men of his tribe and lived to 
return to his native home with the rest of his people at 
the Pine Ridge Agency, North Dakota. 


31] 


CHIEF JOHN GRASS. 


CHIEF JOHN GRASS 


Uncapapa Sioux 


John Grass was a great and very popular Indian. He 
was known as the Daniel Webster of all the Sioux. He 
spoke all of the different tribal languages and was the 
greatest interpreter of the Indian sign language which 
is universal amongst the dark skinned races. As an orator 
he had no equal. He was a stubborn fighter, was one of 
the chief advisers of Sitting Bull in their counsels of 
war, a great power with the different tribes and smoothed 
over all their political jealousy and tribe hatred and 
brought together the best equipped and strongest Indian 
army ever known in America and consisting of some 
seven thousand warriors. They were equipped with mod- 
ern guns, both in infantry and cavalry. He had the ad- 
vantage of travel and saw for himself that it was suicidal 
for the Indians to attempt to fight the government troops. 
He advised his people to get wisdom and receive the 
white man’s education and learn to till the soil and be- 
come farmers and citizens, not only themselves, but their 
children, as it was only a question of time when their 
allotments would be cut off by the government and they 
and their families would suffer in consequence. 


33] 


GERONIMO. 


GERONIMO 


Apache chief and warrior of the Chiricahua band. In 
1884-6 he became noted as the ringleader in the harrying 
of Arizona and New Mexico. On March 25, 1886, Gen. 
Crook forced Geronimo to stand, but he refused to sur- 
render except for two years, the band to be sent east with 
their families and then replaced on their reservation. 
Crook accepted the surrender under these terms and start- 
ed for Fort Bowie, but on the march the entire band 
slipped away to the mountains and began their same old 
tactics. For this Gen. Crook was replaced by Gen. Nelson 
A. Miles, who gave the Indians no rest until Geronimo 
once more surrendered, this time on condition of being 
sent out of Arizona. Miles ordered them sent to St. 
Augustine, Florida, but Geronimo and fourteen others 
were sent to Fort Pickins, Florida, instead. 

Mr. Cross, the artist, says “when we remember that it 
took six such men as Crook, Gatewood, Lauton, Chaffee, 
Wilcox and Miles, the most successful Indian fighters the 
United States could boast of, and some ten years of al- 
most incessant fighting, to conquer this savage chief and 
his Indian hordes, there can be no doubt that Geronimo 
was the Napoleon of all Indians.” Geronimo’s own story, 
given to S. M. Bennett, at Fort Sill, reveals the reason 
for his intense hatred for the white people. He said, “In 
1858, being at peace with the Mexicans, we went south 
into Old Mexico to trade. Having located temporarily 
near the town of Kas-ki-yeh, we left our camp to go into 
the town, leaving our arms, supplies and our wives and 
children under a small guard. Returning in the direction 
of our encampment, we met a few of our women and 
children who told us that the Mexican troops from some 
neighboring town had attacked our defenseless families. 
I found my aged mother, my young wife and my children 
were among the slain. From that moment there was born 
in my heart a desire for revenge.” Geronimo was after- 
wards held as a military prisoner at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, 
where he died during the present year (1909). 

The Apaches are of the Athapascan stock, kindred to 
the Navajo, and originally occupying the region from Cen- 
tral Texas to the Colorado river in Arizona. When the 
United States acquired this territory by the Gadsden 
Purchase they numbered about 10,000. They gave the 
Americans very little trouble until 1860, when the whole 
tribe went on the warpath. The next year (1861) the 
troops were withdrawn on account of the Civil War so 
the Apaches in a short time had murdered or driven out 
every white inhabitant from Arizona, except a few who 
took refuge in Tucson. For ten years this Territory was 
the scene of one of the most awful Indian wars in history, 
in fact there was little cessation until the surrender of 
Geronimo to General Miles in 1886. There only remained 
of the tribe about 5,200 in 1904. 


35] 


a Morley, Cray J fetes 
Wie Ca ves OS 


YO-GO-A-VOITEY. 


YO-GO-A-VOITEY 


(The Coyote) 


High Chief of the Utes. His father was a full blood 
Ute, his mother a Cyotero Apache. He is a man of 
strong character, tenacious, firm, and well balanced. He 
is highly esteemed by all the white settlers near his 
reservation. He has gained prestige and a powerful 
influence over his people, since Chief Ignacio is very old 
and his former power over the tribe has vanished. Yo- 
go-a-voitey, when a young man, acted as a scout for the 
Government in several expeditions against the hostile 
Indians of the plains. He has a ranch on the Rio de las 
Pinos (Pine River) in Colorado, a few miles north of the 
New Mexico border line, and is highly respected by the 
General Government at Washington, D. C. The Utes 
belong to the important Shoshonean tribe of North Amer- 
ican Indians, which formerly occupied a large part of 
the great interior basin of the United States. The Com- 
anche, Tukurika, Washaki, Peneteka, Chemehuevi, Kai- 
babs, Shivwits and Kwaiantiwoket (Paiute), were also 
members of the Shoshoni tribe. The Utes originally oc- 
cupied nearly the entire mountainous part of Colorado, 
including the northern drainage of the San Juan in the 
southeast and extending into northeastern New Mexico. 

The Utes were hunting Indians, living in Tipis or 
Tepes, and subsisting almost entirely on large game in- 
cluding the buffalo, although only the Comanches were 
essentially “Buffalo Indians.” 

Mr. F. W. Hodge, of the Smithsonian Institution, gives 
the number of Utes in 1904 as follows: 940 Capote, 
Moache and Wiminerchi combined, 457 Uinta, 820 Un- 
compahgre, and 371 White River Ute, or a total of 2,589. 


37] 


SAKES CEREURCORe KD eR RRR IN 


ae 


WALKS-IN-SLEEP. 


WALKS-IN-SLEEP 


Chief of the Navahos. He was a great scout, and by 
reason of his subtle and mysterious movements against 
hostile enemies, was of great service to the Government. 
He accomplished nearly all his work as a scout and spy 
during the dark hours of the night, keeping out of sight 
during the day time, and although the Navaho and the 
Apachees are closely related, he rendered notable and 
almost invaluable service in the campaigns against Ger- 
onimo and his savage hordes in Arizona and New Mexico. 

The Navajos (Navaho) are an important tribe of the 
Athapascan or Tinne stock of Indians, now occupying a 
reservation of about 9,442,240 acres situated in northeast- 
ern Arizona, northwestern New Mexico and southern 
Utah, and numbering about 16,000. One might travel for 
days over this vast arid region, without getting sight of a 
single Indian, but let it be announced that a Medicine 
dance will be held at a certain lodge, or that there will 
be competitive games at a trading post, and Navajos seem 
to spring out of the ground and swarm out of the val- 
leys and over the mountains. 


Walk-in-Sleep is an expert silver smith, and with rude 
tools and appliances gathered on the outskirts of civiliza- 
tion he and his people convert Mexican money into beads, 
rosettes, buckles, earrings, wristlets and finger rings. 
Along the Rio San Juan farming is carried on quite exten- 
sively, but their principal livelihood is their flocks. In 
1902 they had 380,000 sheep, 6,700 goats, 50,000 horses and 
mules, and 8,000 cattle, which in addition to furnishing the 
chief food supply netted $150,000 in wool and blankets. 
These blankets which have become celebrated, are woven 
by women on simple looms, and in pleasing and some- 
times intricate and vari-colored designs. Formerly native 
dyes of rare delicate tones were employed, but in recent 
years, in order to meet the increasing demands they are 
using glaring aniline colors. Although the Navajos are 
more closely related in language to the Apachees than 
to any other tribe, they are very much mixed with Pueblo, 
Shoshonean, Yuma, and even Spanish blood. 


39] 


ee RE OF PS 
* ; * 


LONE WOLF. 


LONE WOLF 


Head Chief of the Kiowas. He was known as one of 
the most crafty, and cruel warriors of his tribe. In 1868, 
he made a most cruel and extensive raid through Texas 
and the Indian Territory. Generals Sheridan and Custer 
were put upon his trail, with California Joe as scout, and 
after an extended campaign, succeeded in forcing the In- 
dians to surrender. Lone Wolf carried a tomahawk which 
is shown in the painting, and he often boasted that wiht 
this particular war implement he had killed upwards of 
fifty persons. 

The Kiowas (properly Kai-gwu) are now located prin- 
cipally in Oklahoma (Beautiful Land). They number 
about 1,100 and their numerical strength has varied but 
little in the last century. Their language forms a distinct 
stock, who have resisted with unusual virility the physical 
decay so common among the tribes. In dress and dwell- 
ings they are civilized, but otherwise tenacious of their 
customs, of which the most prominent were the sun dance, 
and devotion to a stone image called the Taime, a sort 
of guardian deity. According to their own traditions they 
lived originally in the Montana Rockies along the head 
waters of the Missouri and Columbia Rivers, they followed 
the retreating buffalo herds southward along the plains 
allying themselves with the Crows. In 1790, they formed 
a confederacy with the Comanches, and finally making 
peace with the Cheyennes and Arapahoes, they became one 
of the most formidable scourges of the plains, harrying the 
frontiers of the United States and Mexico. The treaty of 
Medicine Lodge, Kansas, in 1867, enforced by Gen. Cus- 
ter’s troops, placed them with the Comanches, Cheyennes 
and Arapahoes upon reservations in Oklahoma. They 
broke loose in 1874, and Mackenzie was obliged to kill 
their horses and deport their chief men to Florida, after 
which they remained quiet. In 1901, their reservation was 
thrown open to settlement, and they became American 
citizens. 

In the spring of 1868, General Custer, with Captain 
Payne as scout, and a volunteer force of 150 men, started 
out from Fort Hays after a band of Cheyennes and Kio- 
was, who, under Tall Bull, had committed several murders 
near the Republican River. On March 13, they overtook 
the band and the Indians becoming frightened, sent ten 
of their number to treat with Custer, among whom were 
Roman Nose (the Head Chief), Lone Wolf, Cross Timber, 
Eagle Chief, and Yellow Rose, five whose names were 
especially loathsome to the western settlers. Custer held 
them as hostages for the safe return of Mrs. Morgan and 
Miss White. The ladies were finally released, but all the 
Indians slipped away except the ten, which were taken 
to Fort Hays and held prisoners. In the summer of 1869, 
they attempted to escape. In the fight ensuing several 
soldiers were killed and all ten Chiefs were mortally 
wounded. 


41] 


WASHAKIE. 


WASHAKIE 


Chief of the Washaki band of Shoshonean Indians oc- 
cupying southwestern Wyoming. Washakie was known as 
the “Great Peace Chief.” He is here represented bearing 
the white bird or wand of peace. He rendered valuable 
assistance to the Government at Washington. Being a 
very moral man, he had great influence over his people, 
politically, religiously and morally. Ue died a devout 
Christian, and the Government caused his remains to be 
taken east where they were interred in one of the Na- 
tional Cemeteries. Fort Washakie was named in his 
honor. The narrative of Lewis and Clark asserts that 
the Shoshoni bands encountered on Jefferson River, whose 
summer home was on the head waters of the Columbia, 
formerly lived within their own recollection in the plains 
east of the Rocky Mountains, whence they were driven 
to their mountain retreats by the Minitari (Atsina), who 
had obtained firearms, and much of whose territory was 
formerly occupied by Shoshonean tribes. The Washakie 
are about the only band of this great tribe who retain 
the tribal name, being known as Shoshone or Shoshoni 
Indians. They, like their kinsmen, the Bannock, Com- 
anche and the Ute, were hunters, living in tepes, but 
having been driven from the buffalo country, were obliged 
to subsist on other game and fish. They numbered in 
1902 about 1,327, as follows: 900 at Fort Hall agency, 300 
at Leinhi Idaho agency, 223 at Western Shoshoni agency, 
Nevada, and 804 at Shoshoni agency, Wyoming. 

The portrait is painted in Mr. Cross’ usual boldness, 
while using the brilliant colors necessary in Indian por- 
traiture, yet he invariably succeeds not only in producing 
a splendid portrait of his subject, but faithfully portrays 
the character and tribal features, as well. 


43] 


BLACK WOLF. 


BLACK WOLF 


Chief of the Piutes, of Nevada, from a sketch from life 
made in 1861. 

Black Wolf and his tribe wrought great havoc from 
1849 to 1861, during the gold excitement in California. 
There was scarcely a trip made by the “Pony Express” 
riders where Black Wolf and his Indians did not ambush 
the lone rider. 

He attacked many trains of emigrants as they crossed 
the plains in the great rush for the gold fields of Cali- 
fornia, killing many white pople and stealing their horses. 

The Piute (Pi-ut) is a name given to various small 
tribes of American Indians of the Shoshone family, resid- 
ing in southwestern Utah, Nevada, Arizona and south- 
eastern California. There are about 5,000 of them, about 
two-thirds of whom are beyond the jurisdiction of the 
Indian Agencies. 

The Piutes in different localities are known as Pavi- 
otos, Chemehuevis, Pautis, and Namus. 

The Shoshones have, from the remotest times, occupied 
the plateau and summits and valleys of the Rocky Moun- 
tains. Louis and Clark found them to possess its sum- 
mits in latitude 48 degrees north in 1805. Fremont found 
them spread over practically all the territory from 42 io 
45 degrees in 1840. 

These Piutes are no doubt descendants of the Ute 
branch of the Shoshonian family. Schoolcraft in his 
history of the Indian tribes gives as the five great fam- 
ilies of American Indians the Algonquins, Iriquois, Appa- 
lachains, Dakotahs and Shoshones. Besides those he 
mames several minor tribes—Natchez, Utchees, Corees, 
Chicoras, Carolinas, Eries, Andastes, Mundwas, Attuck- 
apas, Mascotius and the Allegans. This comprised all the 
bands and tribes of Indians in North America and alto- 
gether they are known as “Vesperic,” a term geographi- 
cally limited to the exact era of the United States. 


TALL BULL. 


TALL BULL 


Chief of the Cheyenne. He was the leader of the 
renegade Cheyenne, Arapaho and Sioux Indians, known as 
“Dog Soldiers,’ who, during the winter and early spring 
of 1869, committed many atrocities and spread terror 
among the settlers of Kansas, Nebraska and Colorado, 
especially those living on the exposed frontier. 

Early in May, 1869, the Republican River Expedition 
under Brevet Major General E. A. Carr, consisting of sev- 
en troops of the 5th Cavalry and a battalion of friendly 
Pawnee Indians, left Fort McPherson, Neb., to operate 
against these marauders. Col. W. F. Cody (Buffalo Bill) 
was selected as scout and guide. After careful prepara- 
tion they struck the trail of the Indians, and after a few 
days Buffalo Bill had located their camp and the Indians 
were surprised in broad day light by the attacking party, 
something almost unprecedented in Indian warfare, and 
especially on the plains. In the unexpected charge which 
followed, the Indians became more or less disorganized 
and scattered, and in consequence there was many hand 
to hand conflicts which continued for some time in the 
village and over the prairie, ending in a complete victory 
for the troops. Tall Bull was mounted on a white horse 
and rode madly back and forth in front of his disorganized 
warriors in an endeavor to rally them into line of battle. 
At this critical moment, Buffalo Bill rode fearlessly out 
in front of the Indians and shot Tall Bull from his white 
horse and retreating killed several others of his warriors. 
Cody captured Tall Bull’s horse and named it after the 
chief. This horse developed into a racer and Buffalo 
Bill won many races with him. 

The Cheyenne (Shi-en) with the exception of the Black 
Feet, are the westernmost member of the great Algonquin 
stock. In the 18th Century they lived on the Cheyenne 
River in Eastern North Dakota, but were gradually driven 
southwest by the Sioux to the forks of the Big Cheyenne 
near the Black Hills, where Lewis and Clark found them 
in 1803. They were originally agriculturists, but the 
acquisition of horses turned them into nomad raiders and 
led to their foraying even to Mexico and claiming lands 
as far apart as Montana to the forks of the Platte, though 
they numbered but 3,000. The tribe divided from the 
Black Hills County, part of them fraternizing with the 
Ogalalla Sioux, while another part moved South and 
formed a confederacy with their Algonquin kinsmen, the 
Arapaho on the Arkansas. They now number about 2,100 
and are governed by a council of five chiefs. The Chey- 
enne are a tall finely built race, the best physically of all 
the plains Indians, except the Osages, but rather dull 
intellectually. Their language is one of the most diff- 
cult of even Indian tongues. 


47] 


oe Oe 


»: 


ROMAN NOSE 


ROMAN NOSE 


War Chief of the Southern Cheyenne. The only pic- 
ture of the kind ever made of this noted Indian. General 
Frye thus graphically describes him in his valuable work 
“Army Sacrifice,” “A veritable man of war, the battle 
and scenes of carnage and cruelty were as the breath of 
his nostrils; about thirty years of age, standing six feet 
six inches high, he towered giant like above his compan- 
ions; a grand head. with strongly marked features, lighted 
by a pair of fierce black eyes, a large mouth with thin 
lips, through which gleamed rows of white teeth; a Ro- 
man nose with dilated nostrils like those of a thorough 
bred horse, a broad chest and symmetrical limbs, on 
which the muscles under the bronze of his skin stood out 
like twisted wire, were some of the points of this splendid 
animal. Clad in buckskin leggings and moccasins elabor- 
ately embroidered with beads, a white buffalo skin beau- 
tifully tanned and as soft as cashmere thrown over his 
naked shoulders, he stood forth the war chief of the 
Cheyennes.” 

He was a fanatic in every sense of the word. Very 
proud and vain. He would boast of his hair, which he al- 
ways allowed to hang loose. He maintained that he was 
sent into the world as a special messenger of the “Great 
Spirit” to lead his people against the pale faces. He 
claimed that the white buffalo skin was given him by the 
Great Spirit and with it the Spirit covered him at night. 
He would not shake hands with even his best friend, claim- 
ing that this would detract from his magnetism. He 
would sometimes shake the sleeve of a friend’s coat, but 
would not clasp the hand. He carried a red sash which 
had been presented him, also a large cavalry sabre. He 
fell in the terrible battle of Beechers Island, Colorado, in 
the autumn of 1868, when he and his Indian hordes fought 
the United States troops under Gen. Forsythe. 

The first treaty made with the Cheyennes by the United 
States was in 1825, while they were near the Black Hills. 
In 1851, another treaty was made with the Northern band 
at Fort Laramie. A number of treaties were made with 
the Southern branch, but it is alleged that the commission- 
ers neither made them intelligible nor executed them 
fairly. The Indians retaliated by the usual atrocities. The 
settlers wished them exterminated, the military wished 
to cow them by severe punishment, the Indian Depart- 
ment blamed both. The Indian Commissioners in 1864 
sent some 400 Cheyennes and Arapahos to a camp at Sand 
Creek, Colorado; Col. Chivington fell upon them Nov. 
29, 1864, and butchered 131 men, women and children. 
A bloody and costly war naturally followed, ending only 
with the killing of Chief Black Kettle, by Custer and his 
troops, Nov. 27, 1871, and compelling the Indians to re- 
turn to their reservation. 


49] 


CHIEF JOSEPH 


“CHIEF JOSEPH” 


“Mut-too-yah-lat-lat” (Thunder traveling over the 
mountains). Chief of the Wal-lam-wat-kin, band of Chute- 
pa-he or Nez-Perces (nose pierced) Indians. 


Joseph was born in Eastern Oregon about 1830. The 
Nez Perces belong to the Sahaptin family. Lewis and 
Clark styled them Chopunnish, while they call themselves 
Numepo. The tribe have always been friendly to the 
whites. Chief Joseph’s father counselled him to coin- 
tinue this friendliness. The Government took away a 
large portion of their reservations, to this there was very 
emphatic objection by the Indians, yet Chief Joseph coun- 
selled peace and meek submission. Very soon, however, 
nearly the whole of the remaining reservation was taken, 
and while the Indians were preparing to move, they were 
as they believed mistreated by the army, and quite a num- 
ber of them were killed. Chief Joseph, however, with 
but about three hundred followers, showed himself a 
great warrior, a strategist and a statesman, as it required 
forty companies of United States troops, together with a 
small army of Volunteers, over two months to hunt down 
and capture this little band, and although he lacked the 
warriors, yet in prowess and cunning he stands in a 
class with Tecumseh, Black Hawk and Pontiac. Joseph 
died September 22, 1904, at the Calville Indian Reserva- 
tion, Miles, Washington. In the death of this noted chief, 
the United States lost its most celebrated Indian since 
the death of Red Cloud. In Chief Joseph’s own story, 
after enumerating many wrongs which he believed had 
been perpetuated upon his people, he concluded: “Let 
me be a free man,—free to travel, free to stop, free to 
work, free to trade where I choose. Free to choose my 
own teachers, free to follow the religion of my fathers, 
free to think, talk and act for myself, and I will obey every 
law or submit to the penalty. Whenever the white man 
treats the Indian as they treat each other, then we shall 
have no more wars. We shall be alike—Brothers of One 
Father, with one sky above us, and one country around 
us, and one government for all. Then the Great Spirit 
who rules above will smile upon this land and send rain 
to wash out the bloody spots made by brothers’ hands 
upon the face of the earth.” 


The Shahaptin stock is noteworthy on account of the 
Nez Perces and this famous chief, probably one of the 
most remarkable Indians of any age whose “retreat” in 
1877 has often been compared to the celebrated “March 
of the Ten Thousand” of old. During this two months 
retreat Joseph forbade his men to interfere with any white 
non-combatants. 


51] 


BOONARK. 


BOONARK 


Chief of the Boonarks, Clucksuk and the Bloodtongues. 


These Indians were once very strong. They lived on 
the border of Oregon and British America. They were 
a very fine type of the American Indian. The average 
height was six feet. In earlier times they were very war- 
like, constantly making raids on other and weaker tribes, 
robbing them of their furs and disposing of them to traders 
on the Pacific Coast. They had a peculiar custom of 
biting their tongues until they would bleed, then spitting 
it on the people they did not like as a way of showing 
their contempt. They were very savage and fierce toward 
their prisoners. 

In taking the scalp of a Chief who might fall in their 
hands, they would take the skin off the whole face and 
head, preserving them by stretching them in a circle or 
hoop made of wood, and preserving the war paint the 
victim might have on his face. Many of them would 
decorate themselves by wearing bone rings through their 
noses, in fact, anything to make them look fierce and 
hideous. They have become very much diminished in num- 
bers, so much so they have lost all their tribe customs and 
relations. There is not more than a half hundred left 
and they have taken up their homes with other friendly 
tribes. 

The Boonarks (Bannacks) and kindred tribes are de- 
scendants from the Shoshonean or Uto-Aztecan stock. 
This great family offers the most wonderful of any Amer- 
indian stock. Not only is this true as to language, but 
as further evidence we find the Civilized Aztecs whom 
Cortes found in Mexico, and the “Root Diggers” prob- 
ably the most wretched Indians in North America 
kith and kin. A diligent search reveals nothing but 
Savagery in the lower tribes while to the Aztecs of Mexi- 
co we are indebted for a number of interesting and valJu- 
able words as Axoloti, chocolate, coyote, cocoa, tomato, 
ocelot, chilli, copal, jalap, etc. 

The Moqui group of the Pueblos belong also to the 
Shoshonean stock. 


53] 


WILD BILL. 


WILD BILL 


James Butler Hickok was born in La Salle County, IIl., 
near Troy Grove, May 27th, 1837. In 1855, with but a 
rudimental education, but an expert with firearms, he lef\ 
his old home, going first to St. Louis and thence to Leav- 
enworth, Kansas. He joined Jim Lane’s “Red Legs,” 
or anti-slavery forces, who nicknamed him “Shanghai 
Bill,’ by reason of his being six feet tall and very slim 
and willowy. In 1857, he accepted a position as driver 
for the Overland Stage Company, and in 1860, he was 
sent by the Company as watchman at Rock Creek Station, 
forty miles west of Topeka. While holding this important 
position, the McCandlas Brothers gang of outlaws attacked 
Hickok in his dug-out, and although alone, he dispatched 
six of their number, while the other four rode away badly 
wounded. For this daring he was nicknamed “Wild Bill.” 
The encounter, however, came near costing him his life. 
When he had fully recovered, General John C. Fremont 
made him Brigade Wagon Master at Leavenworth, Kan- 
sas, which position he filled until the spring of 1863, when 
he engaged under General Curtis as a federal spy. After 
the close of the war, he spent about two years hunting 
and trapping in Niobrara. After a visit to his old home, 
and a trip as guide with Henry M. Stanley and others, 
he was elected City Marshal of Hays City, Neb., Sept. 
8th, 1869, in which capacity he had many remarkable ex- 
periences. He also served as Marshal of Abilene and 
United States Marshal of Hays City. Early in 1875, he 
went to Cheyenne, but the Indians burned his cabin and 
killed his companions, while he was absent, so he went 
again to Kansas City, but returned to Cheyenne again in 
1876. Here on March 6, 1875, Bill was married to Mrs. 
Agnes Luke Thatcher, widow of the one time famous 
clown and showman, Wm. Luke. After taking his wife 
to her home in Cincinnati, Ohio, Hickok went to Dead- 
wood, S. D., and here on Aug. 2nd, 1876, Wild Bill was 
assassinated by a notorious gambler named Jack McCall, 
for which crime the latter was hanged at Yankton, S. D. 

At the time at which Bill was appointed Marshal at Hay 
Center and at Abilene, that country was a hot bed of 
murderers, outlaws and nearly every class of desperate 
characters, and it took but a short time for Hickok to 
convince those worthies that he was master of the situa- 
tion, as ke never failed to arrest any of their members, 
either dead or alive. General Custer said, “He was a plains- 
man in every sense of the word, whether on foot or on 
horseback he was one of the most perfect types of physi- 
cal manhood I ever saw. His manner was entirely free 
from bluster or bravado. He never spoke of himself un- 
less requested to do so. His word was law, and his in- 
fluence among the frontiersmen was unbounded. He was 
not quarrelsome and seldom spoke of his daring conflicts.” 


55] 


KIT CARSON. 


KIT CARSON 


American Trapper, Mountaineer and Guide. 


Christopher Carson was born in Madison County, Ken- 
tucky, December 24, 1809. While yet an infant his parents 
emigrated to what is now Howard County, Mo. At fifteen 
years of age he was apprenticed to a saddler with whom 
he continued two years when he joined a hunting expedi 
tion. The next eight years of his life he spent as trapper, 
when he engaged as hunter to Bent’s Ford where he re- 
mained eight years more. About 1842, he chanced to meet 
John C. Fremont, who was getting together an expedi- 
tion for the purpose of exploring the country between the 
Missouri River and the British frontier. 

Carson was engaged as guide and was with Fremont 
through South Pass, California, Oregon, scaled the sum- 
mit of South Pass, deflecting to Great Salt Lake over the 
wilderness to the Rocky Mountains, over the Sierra Ne- 
vada and through the valleys of San Joaquin and Sacra- 
mento. 

In 1847, he was sent to Washington with dispatches 
and received an appointment as lieutenant in the rifle 
corps of the United States Army. 

In 1853, he successfully drove 6,500 sheep through to 
California and on his return to Taos was appointed In- 
dian agent in New Mexico. He served in the Federal 
Army during the Civil War, attaining the rank of brevet- 
brigadier general. 

It is well known, however, that before guiding Fre- 
mont the “Pathfinder” through the great west this intrepid 
little blue eyed scout and guide had traversed many times 
the vast country, or a greater portion of it, over which 
the Fremont expedition traversed in 1842-5, so this sturdy 
five feet six inch scout was in reality the pathfinder, and 
is richly entitled to be called the greatest of American 
travelers. For before Carson could become a guide he 
must of necessity familiarize himself with the geography 
of the vast and almost unknown west. In 1826, he ran 
away from home and made the journey across the plains 
with a party of traders. Through years of hardships he 
traversed the Big Horn, the Three Forks of the Missouri, 
and the Snake and Humboldt Rivers.. He was acquainted 
with Henry Lake, Brown’s Hole, the Black Hills, the 
territory of the Columbia, Green, Platte, Colorado, Ar- 
kansas, and Missouri Rivers, and their tributaries. He 
had penetrated the Rocky Mountain Ranges, and was 
capable as a guide through all this vast region before maps 
or geographies were dreamed of. The Navaho “Ya-pa- 
ya” represented in the picture was a life long companion 
and servant of Kit Carson. 


Carson died at Fort Lyon, Colorado, May 23, 1868. 
57] 


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CURLEY. 


CURLEY 


The great Indian scout who guided Gen. George A. 
Custer and his command to the Sitting Bull battlefield. 
Antoin Curley was a halfblood. His father was a Cana- 
dian Frenchman while his mother was a full blooded Crow 
Squaw. She was educated by the French Catholic sisters. 
Curley could read and write English. He was generally 
liked by all who knew him, being a man who could be 
trusted. He rendered great service to the Government. 
He was a good fighter and an enemy of the Sioux, as 
there has always existed a tribal hatred between the Crows 
and the Sioux. He was chosen by Gen. Terry to scout his 
command while in pursuit of the Sitting Bull band. Gen. 
Terry had divided his men into three divisions. Gen. Terry 
had gone in one direction, Gen. Custer and Reno had 
gone another. Curley had taken the advance. He located 
the Sitting Bull camp and returned to Gen. Custer and 
made his report on the strength of the Indians, saying 
that he would not go into battle with Custer as there 
were Indians enough to keep Terry, Custer and Reno’s 
combined forces fighting for four days. General Custer 
did not like Curley’s report. Curley not being an enlisted 
man could do as he pleased in the matter and chose a 
retreat. He was some five miles in the rear when he 
heard the report of their guns. He being the only survivor 
of the Custer division, Curley was killed by lightning 
while guiding H. B. Claflen, Jr., and friends through the 
Yellowstone National Park in 1894. His body was re- 
covered after two days’ search. He had fallen off a high 
cliff some one hundred and fifty feet. The body was very 
much mutilated and burned. Mr. Claflen gave him a Chris- 
tian burial. 


59] 


BUFFALO BILL. 


“BUFFALO BILL” 


American Scout, Hunter and Showman. William Fred- 
erick Cody was born in Scott County, Iowa, Feb. 26, 1846. 
His parents went to Weston, Mo., in 1852, the father, 
Isaac Cody, establishing a trading post near the Kicka- 
poo Agency, moving his family to his trading post in 
1853. The pro-slavery sentiment was very strong in this 
neighborhood and Mr. Cody being an abolitionist was 
stabbed by a rough desperado, from which he never fully 
recovered. When only about eleven years of age, Bill 
was employed by the Overland Stage Company, first as 
rider, afterwards as driver, and finally as scout. He be- 
came a fearless scout and guide, as well as a trained 
hunter. In 1868-9, he was made chief of scouts by Gen. 
Sheridan and was a very valuable man to the armies oper- 
ating against the Indians. He is the last of the six great 
scouts of America—Boone, Crockett, Carson, Bridger, 
Wild Bill and Buffalo Bill. During the construction of 
the Kansas-Pacific Railway, Bill contracted to furnish 
the thousands of employees with meat. In this one sea- 
son he killed 4,864 buffaloes, his hest one day’s record being 
69 buffaloes. For this remarkable showing, the officials of 
the railroad nicknamed him “Buffalo Bill.” He continued 
in the frontier life many years, killing the Cheyenne Chief 
“Yellow Hand,” in a hand to hand conflict during the Sioux 
War of 1876. About 1882, he began to gather about him 
some of the remaining elements which went to make up a 
frontier life, as it was his cherished idea to exhibit such 
an aggregation in the Eastern States and in Europe. He 
presently accomplished his idea for what has been known 
the world over as “Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show.” Mr. 
Cody is a unique character, the connecting link between 
the rough frontier of our brave fathers and these days of 
automobiles, airships and wireless telegraphy. 

Daniel Boone and “Davy” Crockett were intrepid fron- 
tiersmen in their day, but their field of operations was 
limited to a comparatively small territory. -Wild Bill, while 
doing some scouting, was engaged more as a civilizer of 
outlaws and “bad men” generally, in which he was a 
pronounced success. Carson and Bridger both being 
great scouts and guides were in reality explorers and in 
this line they deserved much credit that was vouchsafed 
others, who simply followed the blazed paths of these two 
great Americans, and took to themselves credit for dis- 
covering country already well known to either one or the 
other of these noted guides. But Buffalo Bill, the last 
of the great sextet, was pre-eminently the greatest hunter 
and scout, being entirely at home in the saddle he was 
more nomadic, of a more sociable disposition, he gained 
a larger circle of acquaintances, and being the best marks- 
man the world has ever produced, his services were ever 
in demand, not only by the military branch of the gov- 
ernment, but by private hunting parties from the east 
and from all parts of Europe. 


61] 


BRIGHAM YOUNG. 


BRIGHAM YOUNG 


Mormon leader. Born at Whittingham, Vermont, June 
lst, 1801. He learned the trade of painter and glazier and 
worked at his trade in Mendon, N. Y. Early in life he 
joined the Baptist church, but in 1831 was converted to 
Mormonism and joined this sect at Kistland, Ohio, in 
1832. In 1835 he was ordained an elder and sent tothe New 
England states as one of the twelve apostles. On the 
death of Joseph Smith (the founder of Mormonism) in 
1844, Young was unanimously chosen president and proph- 
et. When the sect was forcibly expelled from Nau- 
‘voo, Ill., in 1846, he led them through great trials ‘and 
dangers with untiring energy over the plains and into the 
heart of the Rocky mountains, where in 1847 he founded 
the present Salt Lake City. His followers formed a nucleus 
and others poured into the “Promised Land,” and in 1849 
an attempt was made to organize a state. The govern- 
ment refused to do this, but did organize it as the territory 
of Utah, and President Filmore appointed Brigham Young 
as governor. In 1854 a “Gentile” governor was appointed 
and the Mormons stirred up so much trouble that the gov- 
ernment was obliged in 1857 to send 2,500 troops to en- 
force its authority. Young was the founder of polygamy 
as an institution and was the first to practice it. In 1852 
he promulgated the “celestial law of marriage” which he 
claimed had been revealed to Joseph Smith nine years be- 
fore. However, Smith’s widow and son declared the reve- 
lation a forgery, but Young’s influence carried the measure 
through. He himself had about 18 wives, besides many 
spiritual wives. The courts exonerated Brigham Young 
from complicity in the Mountain Meadow Massacre 
(1858), in which 136 emigrants were practically extermi- 
nated in a collision with the Mormon settlers. Young was 
a great power in the church until the date of his death, 
August 29th, 1877. 


63] 


HOLE-IN-THE-DAY, 


HOLE-IN-THE-DAY 


Head Chief of the Ojibways. He was the son and 
successor of Hole-in-the-Day, Sr., who in the fall of 
1837, smoked the pipe of peace with the Dakotahs, prom- 
ising to meet them the next spring and make them pres- 
ents for the privilege of hunting on the Dakotahs’ lands. 
The promise was fulfilled, but after they had traveled to- 
gether a few days, the hunting party separated, the Da- 
kotahs going on in advance. That same evening, how- 
ever, eleven Ojibways came to the advance lodges of the 
Dakotahs and were received as friends, and after a feast 
and much hilarity the unsuspecting Dakotahs retired for 
the night. As soon as they were asleep, however, the 
Ojibways arose and killed and scalped men, women and 
children, only a few escaping. This was the beginning of 
a bitter and lasting enmity between the two nations. The 
old chief was succeeded by his son a few years prior to 
1850. On May 15th, 1850, this young and warlike head 
chief of the Ojibways, with two or three associates, 
crossed the Mississippi River and scalped a Dakotah In- 
dian almost in sight of Little Crow’s Village, Kaposia, 
and escaped. About this time, Governor Ramsey sent 
runners to the different bands of Ojibways and Dakotahs, 
called them together at Fort Snelling for counsel, hoping 
by this means to bring lasting peace between the warring 
nations. The Indians in great numbers assembled on the 
morning of June 11, 1850. Gov. Ramsey addressed the 
assembled braves, closing with these words: “I recom- 
mend that each nation appoint a committee of three or 
five men to assist—submitting it afterwards to yourselves 
to decide upon.” MHole-in-the-Day immediately replied: 
“All men that live have minds of their own, and had better 
settle their own affairs.” After some parley the commit- 
tees were agreed upon, but suddenly the Sioux (Dakotahs) 
withdrew because there were ladies present. Hole-in- 
the-Day adroitly turned the matter to his advantage, say- 
ing very politely, “I am happy to see so many sweet wo- 
men here. They are all welcome vith their angelic smiles 
to a seat on our side of the council.” The ladies, how- 
ever, withdrew, Hole-in-the-Day shaking each one cor- 
dially by the hand. After two days a treaty was agreed 
upon and Hole-in-the-Day appeared in St. Paul the next 
day dressed in a coat of the United States Infantry, he 
and his associates taking the steamer Ramsey at St. An- 
thony for Sauk Rapids to their homes on the upper Mis- 
Sissippi. Hole-in-the-Day persuaded his band (the Pil- 
lagers) not to take part in the Indian uprising in 1862. 
By this action he gained the illwill of a notorious family 
of Pillagers, consisting of a father and nine sons. These 
men were very bad Indians, always fomenting trouble. 
In 1864, while Hole-in-the-Day was riding in a buggy 


65] 


near Gull Lake Mission, three of these brothers ambushed 
him with double barreled shot guns loaded with buck 
shot and emptied all six barrels into the noted chief’s 
body. 


The Chippewas or Ojibways are of the Algonkian stock, 
tall, active and well formed. They are distributed in 
bands around both sides of the basin of Lake Superior, 
where they once owned vast tracts of land. They subsist 
chiefly by hunting and fishing and number about 18,000. 
The tribes of the Algonquin family comprise, the Ojib- 
ways, Nashkopi, Crees, Mismacs, Lenape, Nanticokes, 
Blackfeet, Cheyennes, Arapalios, etc. Some of the greatest 
Indians of history belonged to the Algonquin stock. Poca- 
hontas, King Philip, Pontiac, Tecumseh, Black Hawk, etc. 


166 


JAMES BRIDGER 


Hunter, Scout and Guide. Bridger himself claimed that 
he was born near the Mississippi River in Missouri, just 
across from the mouth of the Ohio River, and spent the 
first twenty years of his life in Missouri and Kentucky. 
He became acquainted with Daniel Boone, the great 
Kentucky Pioneer, and from his frontier life young Bridg- 
er was inspired with a spirit of adventure, and as both 
his parents had been killed by the Indians, he longed to 
depart from the old home with its sad recollections, so in 
1820 he went to St. Louis, and from there to Santa Fe, 
from whence he joined a trapping expedition into the 
Recky Mountains. Some historians give his birthplace 
as Richmond, Va., and the time of this event as in 1804. 

He was very successful as a hunter and trapper, and 
became a partner in the Rocky Mountain Fur Company, 
which he supplied with pelts secured by himself and 
other mountaineers, whom he interested. Impelled by 
the spirit of adventure, and in quest of game, he explored 
nearly the whole region which is now the States of Idaho, 
Montana, Wyoming, the Dakotas and Utah. He was the 
pioneer discoverer of the wonderful features of Yellow- 
stone Park and was the first white man to discover Great 
Salt Lake. He was wont to tell tales to travelers of the 
wonderful geysers and other natural wonders he had dis- 
covered, and these were long known as “Jim Bridger’s 
lies,” all newspapers refusing to publish his interesting 
accounts, looking upon them as the tales of a Munchau- 
sen trapper, but investigation proved them to be remark- 
ably accurate, even to the smallest details. He was fa- 
mous as a topographer. He often said he “could smell 
his way where he could not see it,” and with a piece of 
coal he would map out on the flesh side of a buffalo skin 
any portion of the immense region west of the Missouri, 
delineating streams, lakes, mountains, etc., almost as ac- 
curate as the present day maps. 

Early in life he married a Shoshone Indian girl, built 
a stockade and residence at a point on the black fork of 
Green River in Uintah County, Wyoming, and this place 
is still known as Fort Bridger. Here he lived many years 
with his Indian wife, respected and trusted alike by whites 
and Indians, and always treated the latter with the ut- 
most fairness and consideration. 

In 1832-35, he was guide to Capt. Benjamin Bonneville’s 
exploring expedition, an account of which is given in 
Bonneville’s Journal, as edited by Washington Irving. In 
1862, he was guide to the military escort, sent with two 
judges to Utah, and in 1868 (his last notable public serv- 
ice) he gave valuable advice to General Sheridan regard- 
ing a campaign against hostile Indians. Wm. S. Brackett, 
of the historical society of Montana, says, “James Bridger 


67] 


JAMES BRIDGER 


was the Daniel Boone of the Rocky Mountains.” For half 
a century he was a prominent figure in important histori- 
cal events, and yet partly through his own taciturn habits, 
and partly through the carelessness of the many prominent 
persons who knew him, most of his life’s history is lost to 
us. We obtain glimpses of him here and there, but the 
many eventful scenes of his life are forever lost. His 
memory is preserved, however, by Bridgers Peak, Mon- 
tana, Bridgers Pass in Southwestern Wyoming, and the 
towns of Bridger and Fort Bridger in Wyoming on the 
Union Pacific Railway. He was of great assistance to the 
surveyors of the Union Pacific, guiding them to the most 
accessible passes, where today the great railway follows 
the trail of Old Joe Bridger. 


He spent his declining years in Missouri and died at 
Washington, Jackson County, Mo., in 1881. 


69] 


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